By Chioma Obinagwam
Sterling Bank, one of Nigeria’s commercial banks, is trending on X but this time, for the wrong reasons, as most customers of the bank took to the comment section of bank to pour their indignation; threatened to jilt and close their accounts at the bank after days of not having access to their accounts.
Confiance News learnt that Sterling Bank embarked on a system upgrade on the 31st of August which led to the inability of its customers to access their accounts including the alternative channels provided by the bank.
Frustrated, Ebere Ihemezie took to X to pour out his indignation:
“It’s five days now that a commercial bank is down on all platforms. @Sterling_Bankng is officially the most unreliable bank in Nigeria. Closing all my accounts after this mess is over. Wish there’s legal provision to press charges for all you’ve made lose in this past 5 days.”
Street King, another X user, “You guys are very useless, I got a message that upgrade starts from 30th August 12midn to 11.59 next day and up till September 4th still the same and @cenbank is allowing this . I can’t access my own money for days now , imagine if alternatives no Dey nko.”
Iyalode retorted: “Sterling bank
U will ask for water and God will give u sand!!!”
Corroborating, Anonymous said:”Sand still better
God will throw them for sahara desert 
.”
According to Frances Chisom: “@Sterling_Bankng you people are frustrating your customers.”
Sterling Bank replies: “Hi Frances, our priority is to provide top notch banking services to you, it breaks our heart that you feel this way. We are currently carrying out a system upgrade to improve your experience across all our platforms, this is why you’re unable to access them at the moment.”
Despite apologizing, SemiColon, another X user reacted while sharing a photo of one of the employees of the bank sharing candies amid smiles.
He said: “How is your banking App down for over 24 hours and you are sharing cheap cream crackers and Milksi sweet in the banking hall? Sterling Bank, please don’t be unfortunate today, okay.”
A system upgrade refers to the process of updating or replacing a bank’s software, hardware, or IT infrastructure to improve performance, security, and functionality. This can involve anything from updating core banking systems to implementing new technologies like cloud computing or artificial intelligence.
Confiance News gathered that it is essential to enable banks stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers in a rapidly changing financial landscape.However, in trying to stay competitive, there is need to strike a balance in order to maintain a positive customer experience.
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